Shades of 2000: Recounts a recurring nightmare in Florida politics and elections

Senator Bill Nelson has called for a recount. Do the vote margins in his race against Rick Scott call for one?
Nate Chute, IndyStar

AP
FILE- In this Nov. 22, 2000 file photo, Broward County, Fla. canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg examines a challenged vote at the Broward County Emergency Operations Center in Plantation, Fla. The 2000 presidential election was decided in Florida by 537 votes after the U.S. Supreme Court halted recounts. The election increased rancor between the two major parties and highlighted deficiencies in the nation's voting infrastructure. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)(Photo: Wilfredo Lee, AP)

The Mother of All Recounts was the 2000 Presidential Election, which gave us all variety of chads – hanging, dimpled and pregnant, butterfly ballots, overvotes and undercounts, and chants of Sore Loserman by Brooks Brothers Rioters.

The recount battle spawned conspiracy theories, unfounded claims of voter fraud, and lawsuits that went to the Florida Supreme Court to the U.S. Supreme Court and back. It also launched election reforms that have spread across the country.

"So many reforms were implemented here first," Former Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho said. "It’s a great legacy we have here in in Florida."

An official ballot for the general election in Palm Beach County, Fla., is shown Nov. 7, 2000. The close proximity of the holes and the numbering system for the candidates caused some confusion for voters. James Prichard, AP

2000: GEORGE W. BUSH. It was a nail-biter election that came down to a contentious recount in Florida, but in the end, the Republican made it to the White House. Bush won Arizona more comfortably. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Broward County canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg looks over a questionable ballot at the county courthouse in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., during the 2000 presidential election recount. Rhona Wise, AFP/Getty Images

Photographers take pictures of Kim Watson, who is dressed as Darth Vader to protest outside the Leon County Public Library, while the recount of the Miami-Dade under vote is taking place inside on Saturday in Tallahassee. Craig Litten

AP
FILE- In this Nov. 22, 2000 file photo, Broward County, Fla. canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg examines a challenged vote at the Broward County Emergency Operations Center in Plantation, Fla. The 2000 presidential election was decided in Florida by 537 votes after the U.S. Supreme Court halted recounts. The election increased rancor between the two major parties and highlighted deficiencies in the nation's voting infrastructure. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) Wilfredo Lee, AP

Dexter Douglass, attorney for Al Gore, answers questions from the media who packed into a tight area outside the third-floor courtroom where the arguments for and against the manual state recount were heard. Phil Sears

Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho, left, and other election officials recount general election ballots Tuesday morning at the Leon County Courthouse. The ballots were left over from the recount that was halted two weeks ago because of the Supreme Court decision. Craig Litten

Leon County Commissioner, Bob Rackliff, and Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho, recount ballots on Wednesday in the Leon County Courthouse that were cast in Leon County during the general election on Tuesday. (not pictured also counting was County Judge Tim Harley). Allison Long

George W. Bush attorneys Irv Terrell, left, and Phil Beck hand out material to the media in front of the Leon County Public Library, before the Miami-Dade under vote recount began on Saturday morning. Craig Litten

Florida’s mishandling of that election became a national joke for late night talk show hosts. It also made Florida the poster child for election reform, a lesson we still haven't quite got right.

Every election since, something seems to go wrong and the final tally gets delayed. And Broward County often seems to be at the epicenter.

Once again, the Sunshine State is heading into election overtime — but this time with an unprecedented three statewide races in the balance critical to Republicans maintaining a 20-year-old grip on the state capitol and to flipping a U.S. Senate seat red.

The election recount should be made easier because of changes in state law that make recounts mandatory and set specific deadlines for filing results. But those same reforms led to an increase in early voting and mail-in ballots that take a long time to verify.

Eighteen years ago, Gov. Jeb Bush was two years into his first term as governor when his older brother was running for president.

Gov. Rick Scott set the tone for the recount challenge with his sharply partisan comments Thursday night, before the first unofficial vote had been tabulated: "I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election."

The next day, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement contradicted Scott, saying there was no investigation and no evidence of election fraud.

The Democrats immediately jumped on Scott for misuse of office.

"Scott is abusing the full force of his public office as governor to stop a complete and accurate counting of all the votes in Florida – which would determine whether he wins or loses," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who appeared to have lost to Scott on Election night.

Gov. Rick Scott waves as he walks off the stage with his family after declaring victory in his U.S. Senate race against Bill Nelson on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, at LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort in Naples. Alex Driehaus/Naples Daily News

Irene Parave, left, and Karen Aotfest, right, hold signs as they watch the election results come in during an election night party for Rick Scott on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, at LaPlaya Beach and Golf Resort in Naples. Alex Driehaus/Naples Daily News

Alex Segal, a freshman at FGCU, rests his head on the railing as the election results come in during an election night party for Rick Scott on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, at LaPlaya Beach and Golf Resort in Naples. Alex Driehaus/Naples Daily News

Rick Scott fights back tears as he talks about his late mother during a speech to supporters after declaring victory his senate race on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, at LaPlaya Beach and Golf Resort in Naples. Alex Driehaus/Naples Daily News

Rick Scott and his family cast shadows on a backdrop as Scott speaks to supporters after winning his senate race on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, at LaPlaya Beach and Golf Resort in Naples. Alex Driehaus/Naples Daily News

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Bush endured similar criticism, and faced Democratic conspiracy theories that he and Secretary of State Katherine Harris rigged the election. The US Civil Rights Commission would accuse Bush and Harris of gross dereliction of duty, running an electoral system tainted by "injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency" that led to thousands of black voters being disenfranchised.

Scott has been accused of systematically suppressing black votes through the state clemency process.

Armies of lawyers

At least the lawyers for both Gore and Bush waited until the first unofficial set of results were filed before dropping lawsuits — after Gore asked for a recount in four counties. Bush's lawyers tried to stop the recounts, Gore tried to extend the deadlines.

Scott's lawyers didn't even wait for the preliminary results to be filed with the state by its noon Saturday deadline. Already seeing his lead eroding by half, Scott filed a lawsuit in Broward Circuit Court demanding Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes turn over records related to the ballot count that she allegedly refused to provide.

Dexter Douglass, right, puts his arm around Barry Richard during a hearing about the 2000 election.(Photo: Allison Long)

The Democratic National Committee unleashed a brigade of lawyers to challenge the suit and protect Nelson, whose lawyers sued in federal court Friday to extend the deadline for filing election returns.

Matt Caldwell, the Republican candidate for Agriculture Commissioner, also filed a suit against Broward County Supervisor of Elections after his apparent win disappeared Friday when the tally flipped in favor of Democrat Nikki Fried by over 3,000 votes.

“We’re kind of jumping the gun here," said Daniel Smith, a political science professor at University of Florida. “Let’s slow down a bit and actually count all the ballots that are valid before worrying about a recount. I am dumbfounded about how quick both sides are to sue."

Former Congressman Ron DeSantis, who carried the most votes in the Governor's race and had already appointed his transition team, said he was content to let the lawyers do their job.

Likewise, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who seemed more energized as the gap between him and DeSantis closed through the week, took to video to say, "We are hopeful that every single vote will be counted in this race.”

Social media

The protests outside the Florida Supreme Court building were a regular feature for the month of seemingly endless litigation Tallahasseeans endured in the year 2000. Every day for over a month they showed up bearing signs that called Gore and his legal team "Liars, Cheaters and Thieves" or accused Bush of hiring thugs to stop the hand count.

George W. Bush supporters celebrate after the Miami-Dade under vote recount stops outside the Leon County Public Library on Saturday in Tallahassee in 2000.(Photo: Craig Litten)

One protester bore a sign that read, "All I want for Christmas is my vote to be counted."

The lawyers, media and protesters were part of a circus that disrupted daily life in Tallahassee and even interfered with the annual post-Thanksgiving football match between Florida State and the University of Florida.

There was even a faction of Young Republican Yuppies who stormed elections offices in South Florida trying to disrupt the recount, dubbed the Brooks Brothers Riots.

The same sort of obstructive behavior seemed to unfold outside the Lauderhill elections office in Broward County Friday.

Things got so bad the elections office had to call the police to maintain order.

"Now with these recounts, add social media and cell phones and combine it with the partisan nature of politics," Tallahassee lawyer Ryan Andrews said. "It magnifies the issues going on in Broward right now."

Social media tends to accelerate and amplify what are isolated incidents, University of South Florida political science professor Susan MacManus said.

"As soon as a machine doesn't work 100 percent someone is posting it online and saying, 'Here is Florida screwing up all over again'," MacManus said. "It's easy to say all hell breaking loose because one machine is down."

Uniform standards

Until the 2000 elections there was no consistency from county to county, MacManus said.

"There was also no standardization for what triggered a recount," she said. "We fixed that in the statutes, and now it’s universal. There were no timetables, no rules. It was just a mess."

Supervisors also had no standards for interpreting an overvote or what a voter intended, she said.

Thirty-six counties rejected thousands of ballots that had bubbled or checked a candidate's name then wrote the name in the write-in line.

"Thirty-one counties correctly counted the vote as one vote but the other 36 counties threw out the ballots," Sancho said.

Ballots that cannot be scanned for one reason or another must be duplicated by staff, confirmed by the canvassing board and scanned into the machine, Sancho said. "If the current rule was applied then, correctly, Gore would have won the election, not Bush."

Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho, left, and other election officials recount general election ballots Tuesday morning at the Leon County Courthouse. The ballots were left over from the recount that was halted two weeks ago because of the Supreme Court decision.(Photo: Craig Litten)

Getting rid of the punch card and electronic machines helped toward standardization. After 2000 the state adopted optical scanning rules with guidelines for overvotes and gave elections supervisors $30 million to buy new equipment.

At first they could buy either optical scanners or touch screen machines, she said. But in 2006, over 18,000 electronic votes in a hotly contested congressional race between Christine Jennings and Vern Buchanan weren’t recorded.

Because of that the Legislature changed the law in 2007 to toss out all the touch screens. Now all state supervisors use only optical scanners with paper,.

"You can’t lose votes as long as you don’t destroy ballots," MacManus said.

Early voting, mail-in ballots

The state also didn't have walk-in early voting and vote by mail. "You needed a reason why you wanted an absentee ballot," MacManus said.

Photographers take pictures of Kim Watson, who is dressed as Darth Vader to protest outside the Leon County Public Library, while the recount of the Miami-Dade under vote is taking place inside on Saturday in Tallahassee.(Photo: Craig Litten)

There were no provisional ballots until the Legislature changed that, she said. The Legislature also changed the deadline for military and overseas ballots

All those changes were designed to protect people's ballots from being discarded, but they also take time to process and count, she said.

"People don't understand why you can't have everything by election night," she said. "The average person has no clue why it takes so long."

With the explosion of in-person early voting and voting my mail, more than 50 percent of the vote comes in before Election Day, he said. Over 5.3 million votes were cast before the election, which saw a total of 8.2 million votes cast. That means only 2.9 million votes were cast on election day.

"It’s a sea change," Sancho said. "Supervisors have millions of mail ballots to deal with, and a hundred thousand errors. Florida law says every vote must be counted."

Ballots that cannot be scanned must be completely duplicated and fed into the scanner.

“It’s laborious, and I don't know all counties can do this” by deadlines set by statute, Sancho said.

These so-called mysterious ballots Scott talks about are ballots that need to be remade, Sancho said. "That statement by Scott is so upsetting because it indicates he doesn't know how the electoral process works."

In the end, Sancho said, he would like to see politicians set aside their partisanship to make sure that every valid vote is counted regardless of who it's for.

"When are we going to get to the point that legal Americans should have their vote counted?"

Contact Schweers at jschweers@tallahassee.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.